A leading candidate on the Shiite Muslim ticket for this week's elections in Iraq has said that he fears the landmark poll could be tarnished by fraud and abuse. Iraqi Finance Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi indicated that security threats in certain areas of the country could lead to monitoring problems, and that any tampering of [...]
The US Supreme Court Monday declined to hear an appeal by Florida Governor Jeb Bush against a Florida Supreme Court ruling striking down as an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers a law that had authorized him to mandate the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube after a court had allowed her husband to [...]
Iraqi authorities Monday announced the arrest of Sami Mohammed al-Jafi, also known as Abu Omar al-Kurdi, a top aide to al Qaeda-linked Abu Musab al-Zarqawi . Al-Kurdi has been in Iraqi custody since January 15th, but the announcement of his capture was delayed until today. In a statement , Kurdi confessed to plans to attack [...]
Britain's Law Society , which represents lawyers in England and Wales, has called for the nine foreign terror suspects who have been detained in the UK since December 2001 to be tried or released. In a decision issued last month, a nine-judge panel of the House of Lords ruled that the indefinite detention of foreign [...]
The US Defense Department has denied a published report that it has set up a new internal espionage arm to get around legal restrictions on foreign clandestine operations. The Washington Post said over the weekend that DOD had established a "Strategic Support Branch" that would be subject to fewer legal constraints than CIA missions under [...]
Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Monday, Jan. 24. The US Senate will hold an executive session today at 3 PM ET to consider the nomination of Carlos M. Gutierrez for the Secretary of Commerce post. A live webcast is available via C-SPAN. The Illinois Supreme [...]
The UK Ministry of Defence has confirmed that British army prosecutors have completed an inquiry into nine more allegations of brutality by British soldiers in Iraq and are contemplating whether to file charges, Sunday's Observer reports. Four of the cases involve the fatal shooting of Iraqis during military operations while two involve non-fatal injuries; three [...]
Inaugural address, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, January 23, 2005. Excerpt: Today's event has proven once more that the Ukrainian nation and the Ukrainian state have come through. The citizens of Ukraine have secured honest elections and the transfer of government has been legitimate. This is a tremendous national victory. Build with millions of Ukrainian hands, [...]
Two American soldiers were convicted Saturday of charges related to the shooting death of an Iraqi woman who was working with them as a translator. A military judge at Camp Liberty in Baghdad found Spc. Charley Hooser of the US 1st Cavalry Division guilty of involuntary manslaughter and making a false official statement to investigators. [...]
The US Defense Department Saturday finished Combatant Status Review Tribunal hearings for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Following a Supreme Court ruling last year that held that detainees were allowed to challenge their incarcerations, 558 men were questioned to determine if the government should continue holding them as "enemy combatants" or release them. So far, [...]